Turkic migration
The main
migration of Turkic peoples occurred between the
5th and
10th centuries AD, when they spread across most of
Central Asia and into
Europe and the
Middle East.
By the 10th century, most of Central Asia, formerly dominated by
Iranian peoples, was settled by Turkic tribes. The
Seljuk Turks from the 11th century invaded
Anatolia, ultimately resulting in permanent Turkic settlement there and the establishment of
Turkey.
The precise date of the initial expansion from the early homeland remains unknown. The first state known as "Turk", giving its name to the many states and peoples afterwards, was that of the
Gokturks (
gog = "blue" or "celestial") in the
6th century AD. The head of the
Asena clan led his people from Li-jien (modern Zhelai Zhai) to the
Rouran seeking inclusion in their confederacy and protection from China. His tribe were famed metal smiths and were granted land near a mountain quarry which looked like a helmet from which they got their name 突厥. A century later their power had increased such that they conquered the Rouruan and set about establishing their
Gok Empire.
Later Turkic peoples include the
Karluks (mainly 8th century),
Uyghurs,
Kirghiz,
Oghuz (or Ğuz) Turks, and
Turkmens. As these peoples were founding states in the area between
Mongolia and
Transoxiana, they came into contact with Muslims, and most gradually adopted
Islam. However, there were also (and still are) small groups of Turkic people belonging to other religions, including
Christians,
Jews (see
Khazars),
Buddhists, and
Zoroastrians.
Turkic soldiers in the army of the
Abbasid caliphs emerged as the
de facto rulers of most of the Muslim Middle East (apart from
Syria and
Egypt), particularly after the 10th century. The Oghuz and other tribes captured and dominated various countries under the leadership of the
Seljuk dynasty, and eventually captured the territories of the Abbasid dynasty and the
Byzantine Empire.
Meanwhile, the Kirghiz and Uyghurs were struggling with one another and with the Chinese Empire. The Kirghiz people ultimately settled in the region now referred to as
Kyrgyzstan. The
Tatar peoples conquered the
Volga Bulgars in what is today
Tatarstan, following the westward sweep of the Mongols under
Genghis Khan in the 13th century. Other Bulgars settled in Europe in the 7-8th centuries, exchanging their Turkic tongue for what eventually became the Slavic
Bulgarian language.
*
History of Central Asia*
Rouran*
Uyghur Empire*
Huns*
Xiongnu*
Hephthalites
